The Chance Meeting
by Dovahkiin092
Summary: Naruto was up in a strange building that he has never seen before. After wandering around, he finds a room full of people, including a young girl with a terminal illness. After saving her life, he makes new friends, and must find a way back to Konoha. (you should read the Naruto manga and watch the YLIA anime before you read this, or you will not understand what's going on.)
1. Chapter 1

The beeping of a distant machine was the first thing that Naruto heard. He sat up, groaning in pain. The last thing he remembered was his clash with Sasuke in the Valley of the End, his Super Massive Rasenshuriken connecting with Sasuke's Susanoo arrow. He looked around the strange room that he now found himself in. The rooms were smooth and polished, unlike the rough wooden walls of Konohagakure. It was that he had been teleported somewhere. The question was, where?

He stood up. The first thing was to see if he had enough chakra to activate Six Paths Bijuu Mode*. However, when he tried it, he only managed to to activate Six Paths Sage Mode*. He would need to find time to recover his chakra.

His next task was to find out where he was. Judging by the sophistication of the building he was in, it had to be a hidden Village. Which one, though?

He opened the door to room, which led out into a hallway. The hallway walls were identical to the walls of the room. Naruto heard the same faint beeping from before. It was coming from somewhere to his left. With no other clues, he decided to investigate the sound.

The source of the noise was a room three doors down. When Naruto opened the door, he saw a group of weirdly-dressed people standing in a circle. They wore some kind of light blue clothing, made of a material Naruto had never seen. They each wore a matching cap and, from what Naruto could see, masks that covered the lower half of their faces. They didn't seem to notice him, but he didn't want to take any chances, so he crouched down and entered quietly.

The first thing that Naruto noticed was the machinery. There were machines all across the room, including one machine that was making the beeping noises that he had heard when he first woke up. The people were talking to each other in whispers, and they were using strange-looking tools. The place reminded Naruto of the Konohagakure Hospital, only this place seemed more... professional.

He noticed wires and tubes leading to the machines, so he followed them with his eyes to their source. They all led to the center table, where a girl lay, unconscious. From what he could see, the people were doctors who were operating on the girl. Naruto could tell from the tension in the room that it was serious. Then, he had an idea.

Naruto stood up and said, "Hey, how's it going?" The doctors all jumped at once, startled by the sudden materialization of the stranger in the room.

The nearest one, who Naruto assumed was in charge, asked, "How the hell did you get in here? The door was locked!"

Naruto looked at him, confused.

"Uh, no it wasn't. The door was unlocked, and I came in."

"You shouldn't be in here!" the doctor yelled. Naruto just smiled.

"Don't worry! I can fix this. There's something wrong with that girl, right? Well, I'll help her, and then I'll leave, alright?" The doctor looked at Naruto, confounded.

"Help her? How? The surgery's failing, and she's dying."

Naruto sighed.

"Just give me one chance," Naruto pleaded. "If that doesn't work, I'll leave. Please..."

The doctor sighed.

"I know this goes against every law and rule there is, but I'm out of options. I'll allow it."

Naruto smiled, and gave him a thumbs up.

"Alright, I got this!" He walked over to the table, the doctors making room for him. He looked at his right hand, the white sun standing out against his fair skin. He placed that hand on the girl, and closed his eyes. He didn't know where he was, so it was safer to just hide his powers as much as possible. With his eyes closed, he activated Six Paths Sage Mode. Right away, he was able to sense the problems with the girl. The nerves within her spine and brain had deteriorated**. Her heart had stopped beating, and she wasn't breathing. He also noticed something strange, but he didn't have time to think about it.

"Alright," he murmured to himself. Using his Yin-Yang Release, he repaired all of the damage in her body, and revived her. When he finished, he stepped away, and nodded to the doctor. The doctor looked at the machines.

"Oh my god," the doctor said, stunned. "Her heart's beating. She's...she's perfectly healthy!" He looked back at Naruto. "What did you do?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head and chuckled nervously.

"Uh, well, it's kinda hard to explain-" Naruto stopped. Had he just sensed... Sasuke's chakra? It was close by.

"I got to go!" He said quickly before running out of the room, leaving the doctors with too many questions unanswered.

 **POV: Arima Kousei**

As he left the building, Arima felt relieved. He had been well-received in the first round, but he couldn't see himself performing well in his condition. He was scared. What if Kaori didn't make it through the surgery? And even then, what? She wouldn't live for that much longer afterwards. He checked his watch. It was about 4:50 pm, which meant that the surgery would be over soon. To rid himself of doubt, he decided to go to the hospital. If the worse had happened, he wanted to be alone when he learned it.

The walk to the hospital was a short one. When he got there, he sat in the waiting room for a doctor to see him. After about ten minutes, a nurse finally came and retrieved him, leading him to the doctor's room.

"It's good to see you again, Arima."

Arima nodded. "Doctor, how... how did the surgery go?"

The doctor smiled and said, "It went fine. In fact, it went more than fine." Arima was confused.

"What do you mean by 'more than fine'?"

"Well," the doctor said, "I can't really explained what happened, but it seems that Ms. Miyazano is perfectly healthy. Her ailment is gone, and she will live a long, happy life." Arima was stunned.

"But, wasn't her disease incurable? Wasn't she going to... die?" The doctor frowned.

"Yes, that was all correct. However, a young man suddenly appeared in the room, and did something to her that made her perfectly fine."

"What?" Arima asked, astonished. "Can you describe him for me? So that I can thank him, that's all."

"Oh," the doctor said nervously. "Sure. He was a bit taller than you, had blond hair, blue eyes, and was wearing an orange outfit. It was weird..."

Arima quickly thanked the doctor, and left. He didn't want to bother Kaori, who was most likely recovering from the surgery. He checked his watch and jumped.

"Oh, crap! It's almost 5:30! I'm going to be late for the lesson!" He began to sprint towards his house. When he arrived, an angry Nagi stood just outside of his front door.

"S-sorry, Nagi... I, uh, was just... getting something from the store, and lost track of time!" he lied. He laughed nervously, risking a look at the young girl.

"You didn't buy anything," Nagi said nonchalantly.

"Oh, uh, yeah... I-I..." Arima sighed. It was no use, he could tell.

Nagi grunted and walked back inside.

Arima reached for the door, but hesitated. The lesson would be a painful one, but also a good one. The fact that Kaori made it through the surgery and was going to be fine raised Arima's spirit.

...

After the lesson, Nagi and Mrs. Seto left, leaving Arima all alone. He let his mind wander, his hands instinctively moving to the piano keys. How would he find the strange kid? He had to thank him; without the kid's help, Kaori would probably be dead. The doctor had said that the kid had blond hair and blue eyes; that definitely narrowed it down. He was also wearing orange clothing, but he might have changed out of them. If only he knew more about the person, then maybe...

A knock at the door startled Arima. He stood up from the bench and walked over to it. When he opened it, a strange kid stood in front of him. He had black, messy hair, and he wore a pale, blue jacket. A weird-looking rope belt was tied around his waist, and at his hip, he wore a sheathed sword. It frightened Arima.

"Um, how can I, uh, help you?" Arima asked nervously.

"Have you seen a blond-haired boy?" the kid asked. "He's wearing an orange and black outfit." Arima gasped. Why was this kid looking for the same person as Arima was.

"Uh, no, I haven't... sorry..."

The kid sighed in frustration, and left without saying anything. When he had turned the corner, Arima sighed in relief and sat down, leaning against the wall. Something weird was going on. First, a stranger cures an incurable disease and saves his friend, and then another stranger asks him if he's seen the first one. It couldn't be a coincidence. Arima decided to follow the stranger, hoping to meet the one who saved Kaori.

He followed the stranger a few blocks, until they were on main street. He crept close enough to hear what the stranger was saying.

"...he'll sense me and come. We'll fight it out right here." What? Arima was confused. They were going to _fight_? In the middle of _town_? Was this really happening? It couldn't be; it must be a dream. All of a sudden, the blond-haired kid appeared two blocks away. The stranger smiled, his plan successful. Arima began to tremble as the kid approached the stranger.

"So," the stranger said, "you came. I thought you would."

"Come on, Sasuke," the kid pleaded. "Let's take this out of the city. I don't want to hurt anyone." Sasuke began to laugh diabolically, the onlookers staring at him weirdly.

"No way," he answered. "We'll finish this here and now, Naruto." With that, Sasuke drew his sword and dashed towards Naruto.

 **POV: Uzumaki Naruto**

 _Here he comes..._

 _Almost..._

 _There!_

He sidestepped Sasuke's attack, landing a punch on Sasuke in the process. Sasuke answered Naruto with his own punch. It connected with Naruto's side, and Naruto could feel ribs breaking. All of a sudden, Naruto felt a sharp pain as Sasuke's sword drove through his right forearm. They both leapt away from each other. Naruto could barely breath; every breath was painful.

 _I can't use Six Paths Bijuu Mode here,_ Naruto reasoned. _I also can't use a jutsu that would damage the buildings. That means there's only one option..._

He painfully moved his hands into a cross-shaped hand sign in front of him. Two shadow clones appeared in puffs of smoke. He held both hands behind him, and the clones began forming rasengans. As he did that, Sasuke formed an onyx chidori in his left hand, and charged at Naruto again.

 _Just a little more time..._ Naruto pleaded. _Almost there..._

The rasengans were ready just in time, and Naruto moved them until they were directly in front of him. The chidori and rasengans connected, and both combatants were blown away from the clash. Naruto landed on a nearby car, while Sasuke slammed into a stop sign. Naruto groaned as he tried to sit up. He was bleeding from multiple cuts, not to mention the broken ribs and injured arm. He lifted his head to look at Sasuke, who had already recovered. Sasuke laughed maniacally, and Susanoo began to form.

 _Shit! What do I do..._ Naruto grasped at straws. _I need to lead him out of the city as quickly as possible. That way, the damage won't be as extensive._ He stood up from where he was, activating Six Paths Bijuu Mode while he did so. He used one of his truth-seeking balls to form a platform, on which he began to head towards the edge of the city. As he had predicted, Sasuke followed him.

He made it within two blocks of of the city line, where Sasuke finally caught up to him. Now that they were away from the city center, Naruto created three more shadow clones, and sent them out to evacuate the people in the surrounding buildings and streets. He dodged Sasuke's punch, and summoned Kurama's chakra construct.

"Alright, let's do this, Sasuke!" he yelled. Sasuke swung susanoo's blade at Naruto, but Kurama caught it with his tails. While susanoo was trapped, Kurama shot a Tailed Beast Ball at it, hitting susanoo directly in the face. Susanoo shot an arrow up into the air, and then disappeared. Naruto looked up to see that Sasuke had traded places with the arrow, but was too late to stop him. Sasuke's Amaterasu started to burn away Kurama, and his chakra construct disappeared. Naruto floated to the ground, safe for now. When the shadow clones desummoned, he knew that the civilians were all evacuated. Now, he could finally fight at full strength.

"Sorry about this, Kurama," he said. "I need you one more time." He summoned Kurama once again, and created two Kurama chakra clones. They combined to form form the three-faced, six-armed Buddha mode***.

 _Alright,_ Naruto thought. _It's safe to use it._ The construct's three right arms began to form a Ultra-Big Ball Rasenshuriken, while the left three formed a Tailed Beast Ball Rasenshuriken. Sasuke laughed.

"Come on, Naruto! This again? This is getting boring. I'll just kill you right now, and find my way back to Konohagakure." He began to draw back his crossbow, Indra's arrow loaded. Sasuke shot his arrow while Naruto was still making the two rasenshuriken. When he had finished, he sensed a small presence behind him. He looked to see a kid about his age standing in the street, mouth wide open. _Oh shit!_ thought Naruto as Sasuke's arrow found its target.

 **So, I decided to do this crossover so that you guys could, if you wanted, read this along with ALFP. However, reading ALFP isn't needed to read this, so people who don't want to read ALFP don't have to in order to read this.**

 ***There is no official name for this form, so I called it this so that you can distinguish it from Six Paths Sage Mode.**

 ****Speaking of Six Paths Sage Mode, that term refers to him without the Bijuu chakra mode.**

 *****Again, there is no official name so far for the three-faced Kurama chakra construct that Naruto uses in his battle with Sasuke, but i have heard it referred to as Buddha mode (because that is what it is based on), so I will be calling it that.**


	2. Chapter 2

When Naruto came to, he was in half-destroyed room. Next to him lied a kid with glasses, unconscious. _Oh, that's right!_ Naruto realized. _He was the kid that was nearby when Sasuke... wait, where_ is _Sasuke?_ He stood up, trying to sense Sasuke's chakra. Sasuke was a few blocks to the north, so they were safe for the moment. He looked down at the kid, who appeared to be mostly unharmed. He tried to activate Six Paths Sage Mode, but he didn't have enough chakra to do so. Without any other choice, he summoned three shadow clones, and they sat down, collecting nature energy. While they did that, Naruto picked up the kid, and, as discreetly as possible, began to make his way downtown.

When he finally arrived in the downtown area, he picked the closest alley to leave the kid off in. He set the kid's body down as gently as possible.

"You stay here," he ordered the unconscious boy. "Now, with him out of the way, I can finally fight Sasuke. I need to get back as soon as possible." He left the boy alone in the alley, running as fast as he could back to the building he woke up in.

When he reached the building, he desummoned his clones, which gave him enough nature energy to use normal Sage Mode.

"Alright," Naruto said, checking off an item on his internal checklist. "I have the means to stop Sasuke. The quesiton is, how?" He contemplated the situation.

"I suppose I'll have to disrupt his concentration to get rid of susanoo..." An idea came to him, and he smiled.

 **POV: Uchiha Sasuke**

Sasuke growled in frustration. Where did Naruto go? Sasuke knew that he didn't die in the attack; he had sensed Naruto's chakra, albeit faint, after the attack struck him. However, Naruto's chakra had left a faint "smell" around the imediate area, so Sasuke couldn't pinpoint his exact location.

"He's probably planning something..." as if on cue, an orange-colored figure appeared a few blocks down the street from Sasuke. He smiled.

"Naruto!" he shouted maniacallly. "Come, fight me! Defeat me, and save this city, or lose to me, and allow this city to be destroyed!" As he watched, the figure began walking towards Sasuke, who began to do the same. When they were only a block apart, two clones appeared next to Naruto, and he began to form a rasengan. Sasuke laughed.

"You think _that_ will be enough to stop me? You're mad!" Naruto shook his head, his face serious.

"No, Sasuke. You're the one who's gone mad." The rasengan formed into a rasenshuriken, and Naruto threw it at him. The rasenshuriken completely missed susanoo, and Sasuke laughed. Then, in a puff of smoke, the rasenshuriken transformed into Naruto, who held two massive rasengans in each hand. He fell towards susanoo, arms stretched out in front of him. Sasuke laughed again as susanoos arm swatted at Naruto, and he burst into a puff of smoke.

"A shadow clone, eh? And a shuriken transformation? I haven't forgotten about our strategy, Narut-" Sasuke was interrupted as the real Naruto appeared right in front of him, Bijuu Mode activated, holding a super mini-tailed beast ball. Naruto drove the jutsu through susanoo's armor, making it all the way to Sasuke. When the jutsu connected with Sasuke, it exploded, and Sasuke lost consciousness.

When he awoke, he was in an unfamiliar room. He tried to move, but realized that he was tied up.

"Sorry," a voice apologized from the corner of the room. Naruto stepped into the light. "I just had to make sure that you wouldn't be a problem when you woke up." Sasuke reached for his sword, but he found it missing.

"Oh yeah, that's over here." Naruto held Sasuke's sword in his hand. "Don't worry, I'll keep it safe. Trust me." Sasuke growled in frustration, but knew that it was useless to try to resist. He had to keep Naruto distracted until he could find a way out.

"So," Sasuke said. "What will you do now, Naruto? I can't be allowed to live. As long as I'm able to fight you, I will be a threat to these people." Naruto looked at Sasuke as if the answer were simple.

"Then I'll just have to take you somewhere where you won't hurt anyone. That's where we can fight. But we can't do it here; I won't allow it." Sasuke laughed.

"Always trying to be the good guy, aren't you, Naruto? You believe that _everyone_ can be saved." Sasuke sighed. "I guess we must go somewhere else to fight. It's not like I have much of a choice, now do I?"

"...Hey, Sasuke..." Naruto said to get Sasuke's attention. "That kid earlier, you know, the one with glasses... did you sense the same thing I did?" Sasuke nodded.

"I sensed the same thing from a girl in the hospital," Naruto informed him. "There's no way that this is a coincidence. That must have been what brought us here from the Valley of the End..." As Naruto continued on, Sasuke finally found what he was looking for. In the corner of the room, a small insect was crawling around, searching for food. He used Amenotejikara on the insect, and he switched places with it, allowing him to knock Naruto out and cast a genjutsu* on him.

"If he is smart enough," Sasuke said to himself, "he will figure out where I'm going." He picked up his katana and walked out of the building. When he walked out onto the street, he took a left, leaving the city, and Naruto, behind.

 **POV: Uzumaki Naruto**

When Naruto broke the genjutsu, Sasuke was long gone. Naruto sighed and stood up, gathering all of his things.

"This isn't good," Naruto said to himself. "Now that Sasuke's gone, I have to recover my strength so that I can fight him again." He left the building, heading downtown. When he finally reached main street, he had a sudden realization.

"I don't have anywhere to stay, do I?" Naruto asked himself. He laughed at his own stupidity, and began to think of places he could stay. Suddenly, Naruto felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned around. It was the blond girl from the hospital.

"W-what?" Naruto asked, surprised. "What are you doing here? And how did you find me?" The girl smiled.

"They just released me today! Seeing as how I'm fine now, they didn't have any reason to keep me there. By the way, thanks for... whatever you did in the hospital. They told me some blond kid in an orange jumpsuit healed me, which was surprising, seeing as how my illness was incurable." She laughed, but stopped and looked at Naruto.

"Oh, I almost forgot. What's your name?"

"My name?" Naruto asked. "It's Uzumaki Naruto, but you can just call me Naruto."

"It's nice to meet you, Naruto," said the girl. "I'm Miyazano Kaori, but call me Kaori. So, where do you live?" Naruto didn't know how to respond.

"I'm, uh, from out of town, actually..." Kaori smiled.

"I see! So you don't have a place to stay, huh?" Naruto nodded.

"Well then, why don't you stay at my place? My family owns a store, and we happen to have a spare room that you can use."

"Thanks!" Naruto said, excited. "I really appreciate it!"

"Alright, well, before we go to the shop, I need to see a friend. Would you mind coming with me?" Naruto shook his head.

"Not at all! After all, you are doing me a huge favor, so how could I be so rude? Lead the way!" Kaori giggled, and she began to walk away.

 _I can't stay here for too long_ _,_ Naruto thought. _I need to find Sasuke and defeat him soon. I'll only stay here for a few days, until I've recovered my chakra, and then sneak away in the night._ Naruto's train of thought was broken when he Kaori call his name. He ran to catch up with her, and together, they headed towards the friend's house.

 **This chapter will be making it out on Sunday, but for everyone who is reading ALFP, that chapter will not be coming out until later on during the week. I had a tournament on Saturday that took up almost the entire day, so I wasn't able to write at all yesterday. When I do post the ALFP chapter, I will also be saying this, for anyone who isn't reading this story. Anyways, thanks for taking time to read this story, I really appreciate it. And, as always, if you have any input for me as to how to improve the story or where to take it, feel free to pm me or post a review on the story.**


	3. Chapter 3

As Naruto struggled to follow Kaori, he started to formulate a strategy to find Sasuke. Sasuke had only left one hint in his genjutsu: a snow-capped mountain towering above the surrounding landscape. If he was going to find Sasuke, Naruto would need to find out which mountain it was. He yelled to get Kaori's attention, and she slowed down until he had caught up with her.

"What's up?"

"I was wondering," Naruto began, "where the tallest mountain near here is."

Kaori laughed and asked, "Why would you want to know that?" Naruto laughed nervously in response.

"Um, well, you see..." He tried to quickly come up with an excuse. "I... enjoy climbing mountains, and I've heard that there are some tall mountains around here." Kaori giggled at him.

"How about we make a deal: I'll tell you anything you want to know after we visit my friend. Do we have a deal?" Naruto nodded his head, and Kaori turned around and resumed her sprint towards her friend's house. Naruto watched her bolt ahead of him and sighed. He had hoped to learn where the mountain was, defeat Sasuke, and return to Konoha as quickly as possible. However, it seemed that Kaori had other ideas. Naruto began to walk again when he heard Kaori calling his name from a block away.

 **POV: Arima Kousei**

As Arima played the final note of the piece, he sighed. After waking up in an alleyway, he had run home as quickly as possible. The last thing that he remembered was witnessing a fight torn right out of an anime, a warm sensation covering his entire body, and then waking up in the alley.

After the strange black-haired kid and blond kid clashed downtown, they headed towards the edge of the city. Arima had been watching as a giant, purple warrior formed around the black-haired kid, and the blond kid became cloaked in flames. Amazed at what had just occurred, he followed them. When he had finally arrived at the city edge, he became speechless. In front of him, the purple warrior's sword was immobilized by a yellow, translucent, nine-tailed fox that had black markings all across its body. It was about the same size as the warrior, and it was similar in appearance to the blond kid. A humanoid figure could be seen in the fox's head. The fox had managed to trap the sword with two of its nine tails. It opened its mouth, and a large ball made of red and blue liquid had appeared in front of the fox's mouth. The fox then "shot" the ball at the warrior, and it made contact with the warrior's face. However, the warrior lifted his left arm, and shot an arrow from his crossbow into the sky. What happened next surprised Arima.

The warrior disappeared, and black flames appeared on the fox, after which the fox disappeared. The figure who had been inside of the fox, the blond kid, floated down to the ground. The black-haired kid appeared about a block away. The blond kid said something, but Arima was too far away from him to make out what he said. Then, the fox appeared again, and its front paws created a cross pattern with its index and middle fingers. Two more foxes appeared on each side of the original in puffs of smoke. The purple warrior appeared shortly after that. Suddenly, the three foxes combined into one, a three-faced fox with six arms, three on each side of its body. The three-faced fox raised its arms, and two balls began to form. The left arms formed a ball similar to the one that the fox had shot at the warrior, while the right arms formed a bright blue ball of the same size. Then, four blades of air formed around each ball.

The balls contained so much energy, they had their own pressure. Arima had to fight to stay in place. Buildings around the fox began to crack, crumble, and fall. Arima noticed a large chunk fall from the building he was next to, and ran out into the street to avoid it.

The black-haired kid laughed from within the warrior and said something to the blond kid. Arima was only able to catch a few words, such as "boring", "kill", and Konohagakure". The warrior loaded another arrow, larger than the first, and fired it. The fox finished the balls, but Arima saw the blond kid turn in his direction. Then, the blond kid looked back towards the warrior, and only had time to move the balls so that they they were shielding the fox. A moment later, the arrow and balls made contact, and exploded. Arima was momentarily blinded by the light created by the explosion. All of a sudden, he felt two hands pick him up and a warm liquid spread across his body until it coated him. Then, he blacked out.

Arima would have kept analyzing the battle, but a knock at the door dragged him back into reality. He stood up from his seat and walked to the door. Kaori stood, smiling, right outside the door. Behind her stood the blond kid from yesterday. Arima's eyes widened in surprise, but the kid shook his head and put his finger up to his mouth. Arima understood what he was saying: _Don't say anything. You_ don't _know me._ Arima's eyes returned to their original shape, but Kaori had not missed the change.

She looked at Arima, turned and looked at the kid, and asked Arima, "Do you... know him, or something?" Arima shook his head.

"No, he just looks like someone I know, that's all."

"Oh, okay." Kaori didn't seem convinced, but she didn't say anything about it again. "Anyways, I came over to tell you that I'm fine!" Arima stared at her strangely, but then remembered that they hadn't talked since before her surgery.

"Uh, yeah. The doctor told me about it. He said that you had mysteriously recovered from the illness." Kaori frowned with disappointment.

"Awe, I wanted to surprise you about it. What a let down." Then she remembered something, and smiled at Arima excitedly. "How did the competition go?" Arima recalled his performance during the competition. In the final round, he had poured his entire being into the piano, as if his music could help Kaori through the surgery. Of course, he hadn't known about the blonde kid and her miraculous recovery, but still.

"Uh, I guess I did well. I mean, the audience seemed to enjoy it." Kaori smiled at him.

"That's all that matters, isn't it?" Arima nodded in agreement. The old Arima would have never agreed with that; he would have said that the performance must follow the sheet music exactly. Ever since Kaori stormed into his life, though, Arima had grown as a musician and as a person. A performance was no longer rigid and strict to Arima, but flexible and free. The sheet music was not a set of instructions; instead, it was a guide for Arima to use to express his feelings and emotions to the judges and audience.

Arima realized that he had spaced out when he saw Kaori's face. "Oh, sorry. Yeah, your right." Kaori sighed.

"Okay, since you already know that I made it through, then I can get going. This guy has some questions for me, and I told him I would answer them. Anyways, I'll see you at school, Arima!" Arima said goodbye and waved to Kaori as she left, the blonde kid following close behind.

Arima closed the door and sighed. He had to get back to practice, or Mrs. Seto would get angry again. _She's scary when she's angry..._ Arima thought to himself. Then a thought occurred to him. _Oh crap! I forgot to ask that kid his name!_

 **POV: Uzumaki Naruto**

As they walked away from the kid's house, Naruto sighed in relief. The kid had almost revealed to Kaori that they knew each other. He would have to be careful around those two. The sensation he was getting from them was unsettling. _Very_ unsettling. The repercussions of this would be numerous and impactful. Naruto would have to take care of this situation as quickly as possible. However, in order to do it, he would need Sasuke's help.

Naruto remembered his question for Kaori. "So, uh, about my question..." Kaori slowed down to his pace.

"Hmm? Oh, you mean the mountain question from earlier?" Naruto nodded to her, and she thought for a moment.

"Well, that would probably be Mount Fuji. We could probably find a picture of it on a postcard. Come on, there's a shop nearby that sells postcards!" She took off down the sidewalk, forcing Naruto to run after her just to keep up. When she finally stopped, Naruto was out of breath. When he had recovered, he followed her into a building. Inside, tons of products lined the shelves and walls. Kaori quickly found the rack with postcards on it, and searched for a minute. When she finally found the one she was looking for, she took it off of the rack and showed it to Naruto. On the front, a large snow-capped mountain that dwarfed everything around it had been placed.

 _That's it!_ Naruto thought victoriously. _That's the mountain from the genjutsu!_ Naruto nodded to himself, smiling. He thanked Kaori for her help.

"Oh, no problem. Actually, I've never seen Mount Fuji, so why don't we go see it?" Naruto suddenly froze in place.

 _We?_ He thought to himself. _No, she can't come with me, it'd be too dangerous. I need to find some way to keep her from coming._

"Oh," he said, trying to keep calm. "Well, actually, I only have enough, uh, money to get one person there. Sorry." She smiled.

"No problem! My parents would be willing to drive us!" _Shit!_ Naruto thought to himself. _Come on, Naruto, think!_

"Well, actually, Kaori... I, uh, have this friend, who wants to go up the mountain."

"That's okay," Kaori responded cheerfully. "We can all go up together!"

"Well, actually, this friend wants us to go up the mountain, um, alone, so..."

"OH!" Kaori responded, surprised. "So it's _that_ kinda friend, right?" She smirked at Naruto, elbowing him suggestively. Naruto's face turned red.

"No! That's not what I meant!" Kaori smiled at him.

"Don't worry about it, I get it! Sometimes, you want some alone time with that special someone." Amazingly, Naruto's face turned even redder. His remembered his first kiss... which had been with Sasuke. _Oh no,_ Naruto thought to himself. _How could this get any worse?_

 ** _That's right, Naruto. Your first kiss_ was _with Sasuke, wasn't it?_**

Naruto's heart stopped as he realized that Kurama was laughing at him. In fact, _all_ of the tailed beasts were. Suddenly, Naruto was in his mental space.

"It's not funny, Kurama!" Naruto yelled at the fox. "I don't want to be remembering those memories!"

 ** _But you are anyways._**

Naruto didn't respond.

"Anyways, how do you suggest I go about getting to that mountain without the girl?" This time, it was Gyuki who spoke.

 _ **You need to find some reason for her to stay here.**_

 ** _Perhaps you could use that boy with the glasses?_** Isobu suggested. Naruto scratched his head.

"Okay, but how would I do that?" Chomei had the answer.

 _ **Well, you could use their love of music to your advantage.**_ Suddenly, an idea appeared in Naruto's head.

"I have an idea, but I don't know if it will work." Kurama grumbled to himself before speaking up.

 _ **Whatever it is, make it quick. I want to take care of Sasuke and get back to Konohagakure soon.**_

Naruto nodded and smiled, determined.

"Alright, here's the plan."

 **POV: Arima Kousei**

"What?" Arima said, surprised.

"Yeah!" Kaori responded, excited.

"You want me to perform in another competition? But it's so soon since the last one!" Kaori looked at him with large, sad eyes.

"Please, Kousei. The kid that I met yesterday showed me the poster, and I realized that I want to perform! However, I need you to accompany me. Please?"

Arima could feel his will weakening. Each plea from Kaori weakened it further. Eventually, it shattered, and he sighed, defeated.

"Fine. I'll perform with you in the competition." Kaori jumped up and down, overjoyed by Arima's answer. Then, Arima realized something.

"Hey, Kaori. Do you know that kid's name?" She nodded.

"His name's Naruto. Why?"

"Oh, I wanted to ask him a question." Kaori shook her head.

"I don't know where he is. Once he gave me this poster, he just left." Arima nodded to Kaori, and looked at the poster. At the top, the words Saitama Prefecture Violin Competition were boldly sprawled across the paper. He sighed.

"Okay. What piece should we play?" Kaori thought for a moment.

"I have to come up with it still. I'm gonna go home. I'll be back to tell you when I decide on the piece. See you later, Kousei!" Arima waved goodbye to Kaori for the second time today. When she turned the corner, he closed the door and walked back to the piano. Sitting down, he began to play Beethoven's _Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor_. As his fingers instinctively played the piece, Arima drifted into his thoughts.

 **So, it has been a long time since I last uploaded a chapter. I've been dealing with a lot of stuff, and I haven't been able to find any time to write until now. Hopefully, I will be able to continue writing at the normal pace again, but it really depends on how things go in my life. Anyways, thanks for reading this story, it means a lot to me, and I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

Kousei was excited. It was only their second time playing together, but Kousei knew that they would do well. After all, he was playing with Kaori. As he walked through the halls to the ready room, he began to hum. After Kaori had told him what they would be playing, he had practiced for many hours at a time, and knew the piece by heart, enough so that he could hum it without missing a beat.

He walked into the ready room, where Kaori was standing, watching the TV. She turned around, an angry look on her face.

"Why are you late, Kousei?" she asked him. The only thing he could do was answer her honestly.

"I was taking my time." Kaori glared at him.

"It's almost our turn, you idiot! Do you have the piece memorized?" Kousei nodded, and Kaori sighed.

Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Emi and Takeshi walked in.

"You ready, Arima?" Takeshi asked him. "It's almost your turn, you know."

"Don't worry," Emi assured him. "You'll do fine."

Kaori leaned over and whispered to Kousei, "Um, I'm guessing you know these people?"

Kousei turned and whispered, "Yeah. They're both fellow pianists, and... well, not exactly friends... good acquaintances, I guess?"

Kaori nodded and turned to the newcomers.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Miyazono Kaori, Arima's friend." Emi smiled.

"I'm Igawa Emi. This is Aiza Takeshi. Nice to meet you, too." Just then, a voice came over the intercom.

"Miyazono Kaori and Arima Kousei, please report to the stage entrance immediately."

"Well, I guess its time, Kousei," Kaori said to him as she took his hand. "Come on." Kousei struggled to keep pace with her.

 **POV: Uzumaki Naruto**

"Alright," Naruto said to himself as the bus slowed to a stop. "I made it."

He got off of the bus and, as it pulled away, he pulled out the postcard that Kaori had bought him, and held it up to the mountain right in front of him.

"Yep, that's the mountain, alright."

He put the postcard back and began to walk towards the mountain. A kind old woman on the bus had given him a little booklet that talked about this mountain. It had mentioned a trail that led up to the top of the mountain. It was probably the best path to the top of the mountain. _That's right,_ Naruto thought to himself. _Sasuke is up there..._ he steeled his resolve, and quickened his pace.

After arriving at the base of the mountain, Naruto spent half an hour searching for the trail mentioned in the booklet. However, after finding it, a voice interrupted his thoughts.

 _ **Hey, Naruto.**_

"What?" Naruto asked as he appeared in his mindspace, clearly annoyed at the fox.

 _ **What are you going to do now?**_

"Huh?" Naruto asked, confused. "What do you mean? I'm going to climb the mountain and fight Sasuke, of course!"

 _ **This mountain is pretty tall, and you didn't bring anything to eat. How do you expect to make it to the top and beat Sasuke on an empty stomach.**_

Naruto pondered Kurama's point, and then nodded in agreement. However, it was Kokuo's turn to speak up.

 _ **How are you going to get food, Naruto? It's not an easy thing to do.**_

Naruto smiled and rubbed the back of his head.

"Uh, I didn't think about that. But, I'll manage to get some somehow, y'know?" Kokuo sighed, hesitant of believe Naruto.

Naruto was back in the real world. _Alright, time to get some food._ It was then that he realized that he didn't know how to get food in this land. It wasn't going to be free; he might be able to work for it, though. It was then that he noticed the old man at the food cart. Naruto ran over to the man.

"Say, mister, I'd like to work for you." The man shook his head.

"I'm sorry young man, but I'm not hiring right now. And besides, I don't earn enough from this cart to pay you for it." Naruto smiled.

"Don't worry, I don't want money. All I want for payment is some food. So, can I?" The man thought for a moment, debating in his head whether to accept the young man's offer. Finally, he sighed.

"Sure, it's a deal. Though I do want to know why you want food."

"Oh," Naruto said, unprepared for the question. _How much should I tell him?_ Naruto asked himself.

"Well, I want to, uh, climb this mountain, but I don't have any money or food for the climb. I need food for the trip up." The man nodded in understanding, and showed Naruto what he would be doing. Once he felt that Naruto had become familiar with the job, he left, leaving Naruto in charge of the stand.

For the next six hours, Naruto stood at the food cart, selling as much food as he could to passersby, most of which were there to climb the mountain. By the end of his shift, the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon.

The old man came soon after, and inspected Naruto's work.

"Amazing. You've made more money today than I've made in a long time." He reached into the cart, and pulled out a package.

"Here's your payment for your work today. It's only bread, though." Naruto shook his head.

"It's perfectly fine. This is enough. Thank you."

"No," the old man said. "Thank _you_." Naruto took the bread, thanked the old man one more time, and started off towards the mountain.

 **Sorry for the chapter being so short, but there is a reason. That reason is the next chapter. We're at a crossroads. So, here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to let YOU choose what the next chapter is about. So, post a review stating whether I should talk about the concert next chapter, or Naruto's climb up the mountain. It's your choice.**

 **Anyways, with that out of the way, I want to thank you guys _so much_ for reading this. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you have any suggestions for me, please feel free to post a review or pm me about it, and I'll try to fix the error to the best of my ability. Anyways, thanks again guys, and have a good day.**


	5. Chapter 5

As they stepped out onto the stage, Kousei smiled. This would be his second performance with Kaori, since she was absent during the gala concert. He was nervous, but, knowing that Kaori believed in him, he had decided that he would give everything he had to make this performance a success.

He took a seat at the piano as Kaori stepped forwards, towards the audience. The piece they would be playing was Mozart's _Violin Sonata no. 18 in G Major_. When Kaori had first presented him with the piece, he had been surprised. Even though it was a violin competition, she had chosen a piece in which the piano played a more dominant role. She had told Kousei that the reason she chose the piece was to let him be the focus; however, Kousei wasn't so sure that was it. Even though she had been cured of her illness, he knew that Kaori was still recovering. She was a bit pale, and tired easily. When he brought her canales, she didn't eat as much as she had before. Kousei believed that she chose the piece because she wasn't so sure she could give the audience something that they could enjoy yet, so she needed him to cover up her weakness. Of course, Kaori would never admit that to him, but he knew she didn't want to disappoint them. After all, he was the same way.

Kousei placed his fingers on the keys and closed his eyes, steeling his resolve. When he was ready, he looked at Kaori and nodded, who nodded back and turned once again to the audience. He took a deep breath, and they began to play.

Suddenly, Kousei was at the bottom of the ocean. He could no longer hear the sound of the keys as he struck them, one by one. He closed his eyes. _Calm down,_ _Kousei_. Kousei knew that he had to stop listening to his own playing, or he wouldn't be able to continue. Instead, he turned his attention to Kaori, whose playing was a beautiful as ever. He listened as she began to become the Kaori he knew, and her playing became her own. Kousei relaxed. He stole a quick glance at Kaori. She was glancing at him every now and then, and when she caught his gaze, she smiled. Kousei smiled back.

Turning back to the piano, he closed his eyes, focusing on Kaori's music. As Kousei had predicted, Kaori's playing style made her part stand out more than it usually would, but that didn't hurt their performance; the crowd sat in silence, attention fixed on the two musicians before them, unable to look away or ignore the music that rang out from the stage.

As they reached the end of the first part, Kousei sighed in relief. So far, he had been able to keep up with Kaori's pace without missing a note. When they practiced, Kousei had been nervous about messing up the first section of the piece, since the piano part was more difficult. He still couldn't hear his own music, and even though he had found a way around it, he had still been afraid of the possibility that he would mess up their performance, but what Kaori said next had given him courage.

"You can do it, Kousei," she had said. "I believe in you, and so does Tsubaki, and Watari, and everyone else. So don't be afraid."

When they began to play the second section, Kousei began to notice something. It was very faint, but it was there nonetheless: the sound of a piano.

 _It's my music! I can hear it!_

Kousei was excited. He could finally hear his music. Did this mean that he wouldn't have to ignore his music anymore? He focused on listening to the sound, but when he heard it again, it was barely a whisper.

 _No. It's still not loud enough for me to play._

He focused back on the sound of Kaori's violin. He would still have to rely on her for this performance, but Kousei could feel something inside of himself that he had rarely felt in the past two years: joy. Even though it was a whisper, it was still a step in the right direction. If he could just make the sound louder, he would be able to play normally. He smiled.

He glanced at Kaori, who wasn't looking at him anymore. It was this girl. This girl dragged him out of his self-imposed isolation. Made him play the piano again. Made him see color again. And now, this girl had given him his music back.

Miyazono Kaori. The girl he met in Spring. The girl who hit him, who abused him. The girl who trusted him. The girl who asked for his help. The girl who almost left him. The girl he loved.

The girl who's in love with Watari.

Kousei's smile disappeared.

 _That's right. She's with Watari._

How could he be so foolish? Watari already knew about his affection for Kaori. But that didn't change the fact that the girl Kousei loved didn't love him. And that didn't change the fact that Watari loved her. He was sitting here, fantasizing about his best friend's girlfriend.

That didn't change anything, though. He was in love with Kaori, he couldn't deny that. He knew he had been doing so, but it was hard for him to be friends with her, seeing her everyday, knowing that he couldn't be with her. It hurt. He knew that he couldn't be with Kaori, but he also didn't know if he could stand being just a friend anymore.

 _What do I do?_

 **POV: Miyazono Kaori**

Kaori relaxed. They had made it through the first part of the song, and about to begin the second one. She looked back at Kousei. He was facing the piano, but his eyes were closed. He sighed, presumably in relief, and his shoulders relaxed. Kousei had been able to keep with her playing, something Kaori had believed he would be able to do. She would have to do something about his self-esteem later, but for now, they had one more part to get through before this performance was over.

Kaori turned back to the audience and began to play the first notes of the new section. At first, she played the music according to how it had been written, but soon enough, she began to diverge from the music score to explore her own unique sound. The audience was captivated by the beauty that emanated from her and her violin.

She peered back at Kousei once again when she noticed that his music seemed to be faltering. His eyes were shut tight, and he seemed to be concentrating on something, but Kaori couldn't tell what it was. Then, he smiled, and his face seemed to relax again. _I'll ask him about it later._ When he began to play normally again, she turned back to the crowd. Looking out at the faces in the audience, Kaori smiled. They all seemed to be amazed by their performance, their attention solely on them.

Kaori was feeling what she always felt when she performed: happiness. She had a lot of reasons to be happy. For one, the audience seemed to enjoy their performance, her goal every time she played on stage. She was also playing with Kousei, the dream she had held since she had first seen him play. Ever since that first note, she had admired him. And this was not the first, but the _second_ time that she was playing with him. She didn't have to worry about her illness anymore, either. She could walk again, go back to school again, spend time with her friends again. Kaori was filled with joy. She could finally live a happy, normal life.

 _Hopefully with..._

Kaori turned to look at Kousei. He was looking at her, but he wasn't smiling, and his eyes were unfocused. _Is he spacing out?_ She noticed that his music began to falter again. _Dammit, he is! What's he doing?_ Kaori began to think of a solution.

 _If he stops, I won't get disqualified, but points will be taken off. That doesn't bother me. But what_ does _is that he's spacing out! What is_ so _important that he would forget about this performance?_

She took a deep breath.

 _I can't do anything to make him focus again, I need to keep playing. But if he snaps out of his trance soon, he could still recover._

She looked at Kousei's eyes, but they were still distant.

 _There's nothing I can do. It's up to you, Kousei. Please, snap out of it. Please..._

Suddenly, Kousei's eyes refocused as he returned to reality. He looked at Kaori, nodded, and turned to face the piano. Kaori turned back and sighed with relief. He had almost stopped playing, but Kousei had pulled through. His music recovered once again, and soon, they reached the end of the piece. They played the last note, and silence filled the auditorium. Then, suddenly, the entire crowd began to clap. The entire crowd stood up for a standing ovation. Kousei stood up, and the two of them bowed to the audience. Then, they turned and exited the stage.

"Well, I think they enjoye-"

"I need to go to the bathroom," Kousei told her quickly, before jogging off in the direction of the men's room.

"Alright, there's _definitely_ something wrong." Just then, the Kousei's two acquantances appeared from around the corner.

"Hey," the boy, Aiza Take-something, said. "Was that Arima just now?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well," began the girl, Igawa Emi, "he was sweating a lot, and he was muttering to himself. Is he going to be alright?"

"Yes, he just had to go to the bathroom. He'll be alright." _I hope._

The three of them went out to the lobby, where they would wait. After a good twenty minutes of waiting, Kousei still hadn't shown up. _Where_ is _he?_

"Well," Igawa said, "I need to get going. I have something after this. Please tell Arima that I said congratulations on his performance." She turned and left the two of them alone in the middle of the lobby.

"Um, I also have something I'm doing after this, so I need to go. Could you tell Arima that I'll be looking forward to the next competition?"

"Oh, uh, sure," Kaori answered.

Aiza thanked her, and left. Now, alone, Kaori's began to think about what had happened during the performance. Obviously, something important had happened to Kousei. He had spaced out for quite a while, and even when he snapped out of it, he had avoided eye contact with her for the rest of the performance. And now, he seemed to be avoiding her. What had he been thinking?

Kaori looked in the direction of the restrooms and saw Kousei standing right outside of the men's room. He was looking up at the ceiling, which was unusual even for him. She walked over to him.

"Hey Kousei." He jumped back and looked at her.

"I almost had a heart attack!"

"Oh, those two people you introduced me to before? They had to leave, but they wanted me to tell you that they enjoyed your performance, and they're looking forward to the next competition." Kousei sighed.

"Is that so?" He turned away from her. "Let's go."

Kaori frowned. _What is_ up _with him?_

As he began to walk away, Kaori called out to him. He turned back to look at her.

"What's going on, Kousei?"

"Nothing," he replied, smiling. "Everything's okay."

"No, it's not. Ever since you spaced out on stage, you've been avoiding me. What happened when you spaced out?"

"I told you, it's nothing. Let's go." He turned and began to walk towards the exit. Kaori was worried. _Is he mad at me? Did I do or say something wrong?_

She began to follow him towards the exit. He wasn't talking to her, like he normally would. As the exited the building, Kaori could only think of one way to find out what was bothering Kousei: follow him until he let something slip.

 **Alright, I'm finally finished. When I read the reviews and learned that the competition had been chosen, I was excited, but I also knew that it would be a little difficult for me, since I don't usually write scenes that are similar to this. However, I started actually working on the final days of December, and I was able to finish it much quicker than I thought I would be able to. I guess it was because I rewatched the show recently.**

 **Anyways, the way this chapter went may be a little... unexpected, but I have plans for it, so hopefully you will have enjoyed this chapter and the plot that will come after it.**

 **As always, thank you guys for taking the time to read my story. I appreciate, really. Also, please keep giving me any feedback you have. Don't pull any punches; your criticism and advice is how I improve my writing, and I would really appreciate it. Have a nice day.**


End file.
